COMMENT | After four Bersatu MPs expressed their support for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim while staying in the opposition party, and the fifth one openly offered his support for a price of RM30 million in constituency allocation, many claim that our anti-hopping law is flawed or has failed.

Such views are perhaps ignorant of the fact that generically the law has an inherent dilemma in deciding its strictness, and the new phenomenon of “defection without leaving party” is but a manifestation of this dilemma.

The real solution has to be beyond the law: strengthening parties, instead of causing by-election...